Had we known the winds would have eased a bit in the afternoon, we would have waited to re-anchor. But…in the cosmic trade off between another night of dread over the Bad Ferry versus the hassle and potential embarrassment of trying to re-anchor in a half gale, we choose the embarrassment. The Bad Ferry is very big and very real.

So this morning, after sufficient coffee, we got ready to haul anchor. Taking our time so as to not get wound up into a frenzy and make a mistake, we slowly got ready. All the while watching the anemometer reading 25, 26, 27, 28 knots. This wasn’t going to be fun, but at least it wasn’t reading 37 this morning. The other issue was; if we move, what will the bottom be like? Will the anchor chatter along on hard coral while I’m paying out 150, 170 and then a last ditch 200 feet of chain trying to get it to dig in and then not? The result of that would be cranking up all that chain a second time and trying again. Ugh.

We waited through a couple squalls complete with rain and then saw a window and pulled up the anchor. Once up, the wind came up again but we were committed. With the engine at about 1500 RPM we were barely making forward progress against the wind. We were just concentrating on keeping the bow upwind as we crept forward as far as we could go to the line of boats in front of us. The plan was to (as we later told Don on Buena Vista – the boat immediately upwind of us); “put our bowsprit into Buena Vista’s cockpit” to get as far upwind as we could before dropping the hook. This was the only way we could stay out of the way of the Bad Ferry who jealously guarded the pass into Fare (the village we’re anchored off of). As an aside-later in the day when we saw Don he (in his low-key way and characteristic Aussie accent) said; “I was having coffee and saw your bowsprit right off the end of my boat and thought; ‘oh, right, they’re re-setting their anchor then'”. Thank you Don for being so calm and friendly.

A couple boat-lengths from Buena Vista, struggling to keep the bow into the wind, the gusts approaching the “difficult” stage again, we were determined. I thought of driving away and coming back around, but something said; “you can do it”- so kept going. Then with the bowsprit literally feet away from Buena Vista, we put the engine in neutral and I jumped up to the bow and dropped the anchor. Fast. The wind had grabbed the bow and was pulling Charisma around and downwind. We really needed the anchor to grab on the first try, otherwise, we’d just end up back in the pass where we were in the first place. The bow swung down, the chain flew out. Counting off the markers on the chain: 70 feet, 120 feet, 130 feet and the magic 150 feet that would put us close to a 5:1 ratio on chain to depth. This is when the anchor will dig in deep if you’re in sand which is what we were hoping. I had my foot on the chain feeling whether it was bouncing along on the bottom or whether it was grabbing the sand. I could feel it start to dig. Then some dragging, but the bow was starting to come around. Some more dragging and then whomp, it grabbed. Just then a large series of gusts hit and swung the bow first right-40 degrees and the boat heeled over up through head to wind and over to the right followed by heeling over as the anchor held, then left, then right and back again. All we could at this point was just sit and watch and check the chain to see if we were holding. Amazingly it all looked good. The gusts were so strong we didn’t even have to reverse the engine to set the anchor. The wind had far more power than the prop would have brought to bear. We did it. First try. Yay!

The other part of this whole maneuver is something all cruisers find which is that this is potentially the morning entertainment for the anchorage. As you probably know from reading this blog, this kind of stuff can make for great stories that get told over and over among the fleet. We all hope not to be one of these stories. On this day, we avoided being the day’s entertainment. I will proudly quote Chris on Ladybug (who was watching, no doubt secretly hoping for a little entertainment as-I admit-we all do) who said later over the radio; “Masterful job anchoring”. Thanks Chris!

The rest of the day was mostly spent waiting for the wind to die down. After lunch, it dropped into the teens for the first time in days and we launched the dinghy. No more bumming rides from the folks who got here before us and had theirs in the water. *****Just as I’m writing this in the evening after dinner, some BIG gusts blew through and Ann and I went up on deck and put a 5 gallon water jug in the bow of the dinghy to add some weight and keep the wind from flipping it in the night as it sits tied to the stern. I also put away my snorkel gear lest it blow off the deck in the breeze****

The other highlight today was our delayed Bastille Day celebration aboard Astarte. Michael and Barbara hosted Ann and me, Chris and Rani from Ladybug and Don and Deb from Buena Vista to the afternoon “Let them eat cake” party. A red, white and blue (for the French flag) chocolate bundt cake with chocolate syrup and rum poured over the top. Yeeeum! Chris and Rani brought Tahitian coffee with brandy. As you might guess, there were more than a few laughs as we all sat and enjoyed a good get-together. A very good time was had by all.

Now here we sit. Much more comfortably than last night since we’re now anchored up and out of the pass. It’s narrow, so the Bad Ferry still might take a swipe at us, but now there’s another boat that actually sticks out farther than us, so we feel pretty good. I also dove the anchor and am happy to report it is buried all the way in the sand. I can only see about 2 inches of the top of the shank so feel pretty good about not dragging. Nevertheless, not knowing the texture of the sand or whether there’s hard coral underneath we have the anchor alarm set. It we drag further than 130 feet it will go off.

The wind is supposed to go down tonight, so we’re hoping to get to go ashore tomorrow. Here’s hoping for a fun day now that we’ve spent the last three days solid, sitting on the boat. I mean, boats are fun, but let’s have some balance here. 😉